pic: Beachbot 2008

[Scott Morgan]

Originally Posted by EricH

I think we have a winner--it looks like 330 2005/2007 for the base with 254/60 2004 on the gripper. (BTW, I think the drivebase teaser for this robot was a bit of a bluff. The other teaser is in plain view.)

Actually the gripper looks more inline with 60's 01 gripper
They were using 3 prong in 04, although the base prongs are pretty similar to the 04 bot.

And I'm looking forwards to seeing it compete this weekend.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by GeeForce

Not to hijack the thread, but I just wanted to make a note here. Although we originally had a dog gear clutch designed in the arm gearbox (good guess haha), we found it was easier to just time a simultaneous release the ball + stop the drive momentarily + start pulling back the arms. I'm sure that after practice 330 will adopt a similar strategy.

That's exactly what we want to do, but it does take practice

Originally Posted by GeeForce

Tip coming from someone who did just that at STL - the crowd will looovvve it We had people coming up to us all day, "that was soo cool how you picked yourselves up" etc.

We got entangled and pulled over in the elims at LA in 2005, and got back up. It definitely is a crowd pleaser. We'd rather avoid that happening, however ;-)

[=Martin=Taylor=]

How were you able to bend PVC in such nice arcs? We've always had to kink it little by little, and we've always had a horrible time with anything larger than 3/4" dia.

[SamC]

Originally Posted by Hachiban VIII

How were you able to bend PVC in such nice arcs? We've always had to kink it little by little, and we've always had a horrible time with anything larger than 3/4" dia.

On the bottom herder, we put the PVC on the robot, then heated it, then we placed a ball in front of it and bent it to the right angle (At least thats one of the ways we tried... Not sure if we did that on the competition robot).

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

We can pick ourselves up from any direction we might fall, using either the herder, the arm, or both.

Originally Posted by GeeForce

Tip coming from someone who did just that at STL - the crowd will looovvve it We had people coming up to us all day, "that was soo cool how you picked yourselves up" etc.

But you still get a 10-point penalty for being outside 80 inches.

[Dan Petrovic]

The arm/gripper looks almost exactly like 1038's 2007 arm/gripper

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27725

1038 probably used the same design for their 2008 robot also...

[Jeremy Roberts]

Is that a 1.5" bore or 2" bore that you have for the gripper..I assume 2"??

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Roberts

Is that a 1.5" bore or 2" bore that you have for the gripper..I assume 2"??

Looks too small for a 2" cylinder, plus that isn't exactly 330's style. I'll go with 1.5". (Last year's was a 3/4", but this looks bigger.)

[Mike Harrison]

I really would not want to get squeezed by that robot. I would probably pinch off into 2 distinct pieces.

[Mike Harrison]

Originally Posted by Syncopation

Amazing design and execution guys - I've seen what you've done in the past, and you might have even outclassed yourselves. Awesome robot, hope you do well!

One question (and this was the main problem for a number of robots at week 1 regionals - or maybe just St. Louis), but from the video, it looks like when you hit the overpass with the arm and let go of the trackball with the hand, you're in a position to be "clotheslined". Any ideas on avoiding this?

217 (the ever-powerful ThunderChickens) impressed everyone with their "slam dunks": they (from what I saw) could disengage their arm so that the force from hitting the overpass flipped the arm backwards so they could drive under the overpass safely (a dog gear or something like that was my guess - never got the chance to ask them myself). Probably not much help for you, since it doesn't look like you guys can rotate the arm past vertical to the back, but just a thought. Might want to watch out for that.

Anyway, you guys have a great design (I never would have thought of two arms organized like that) and best of luck to you in your regionals and championship!

[I apologize for the novel here, just a thoughtdump more than anything.]

Nice guess on the dog gear, but as Grant said we left that strategy for just plain old timing in the driver's box. *high-fives Grant*

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Roberts

Is that a 1.5" bore or 2" bore that you have for the gripper..I assume 2"??

1.5"

[Viper37]

I loled so hard when I saw our robot on there.

See you tomorrow.

[Syncopation]

Originally Posted by GeeForce

Not to hijack the thread, but I just wanted to make a note here. Although we originally had a dog gear clutch designed in the arm gearbox (good guess haha), we found it was easier to just time a simultaneous release the ball + stop the drive momentarily + start pulling back the arms. I'm sure that after practice 330 will adopt a similar strategy.

Originally Posted by Mike Harrison

Nice guess on the dog gear, but as Grant said we left that strategy for just plain old timing in the driver's box. *high-fives Grant*

Ah, really? Great minds think alike, eh? Your arm was just so fast, it looked like it was just falling back. :3 Nice design, guys, and some awesomely consistent driving.

Sorry, didn't mean to totally divert attention from 330 (who are looking to be amazing). Someone mentioned violating 80" rule when lifting yourself back up... Do you? (I can't see a way to really get around that - but I'm sure you can more than make up the 10 point penalty with that monster of a robot.)

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Syncopation

Someone mentioned violating 80" rule when lifting yourself back up... Do you? (I can't see a way to really get around that - but I'm sure you can more than make up the 10 point penalty with that monster of a robot.)

The way I understand it, they would have to if they fell front-to-back (arm swings over), and maybe side-to side as well. But they can make it up, given enough time.

[Grant Cox]

If they fell side to side they might get away with it. If it's front to back (like ours was) it's definitely a violation though.

But which would you take, a 10 pt penalty or one less hurdle?